Hardheaded Brunette by Diane Bator Read Free Book Online

the party last night. He didn't seem to have many friends. Just some tall guy Sanchez said was his bodyguard."
    Thayer's gaze flicked toward the dojo then back to her. "I need to talk to Mick and some of your students. I have a feeling a few of them knew him very well."
    Her stomach fluttered. "If someone Mick knows killed Charlie, chances are I—"
    "What's going on, Thayer?" Mick, sweaty and smelling like a barnyard goose, strode across the beach. "Why are you harassing my girlfriend again?"
    "Gilda found Charlie Hunt's body on the beach a short time ago," Thayer blurted out. "We need to take her for questioning."
    "Charlie?" Mick paled. His breath seemed to slow. "No wonder he hadn't shown up yet. I need to let the others know."
    Fabio reached out to stop him. "Why don't you let us handle that part? Just make sure to keep everyone in the building for a few minutes while we secure the scene. Thayer and I will come over to talk to everyone personally."
    Mick met Gilda's gaze. "Are you okay?"
    She rubbed her hands up and down her upper arms, unable to warm up. "Yeah."
    "I'll take her back to the school so she can sit down and—" Mick started.
    Fabio patted Mick's shoulder. "I'll escort her to the school when we're done here. Don't worry. I'll take good care of her."
    Mick shook his head. "I should be with her. She needs me."
    "She'll be fine," Thayer said. "We just need to ask her a few more questions. You need to worry about all those people in your school and keep them there. We'll figure out who would have had good reason to want Charlie Hunt dead."
    Gilda glanced back at Charlie as someone began taking crime scene photos. Something was missing that she couldn't put her finger on. She closed her eyes and tried to picture how he'd looked at the party. "The necklace."
    Fabio raised his eyebrows. "He's not wearing a necklace."
    "I know." She moved around the body in a wide circle, careful not to interfere with the investigators. "He was wearing one last night. A gold ingot the size of my finger. I don't see it now."
    Fabio gave orders to search the entire beach for clues then took Gilda by the arm. "Are you sure?"
    "Positive. It stood out and I was going to ask him about it, but things got a little weird." She paused. "There were a lot of disagreements."
    Thayer crouched near Charlie's body and took a few notes before he joined Fabio and Gilda. "There's nothing in his clothes or under him. If he had a necklace, either someone took it or it got buried in the sand in the fight."
    "You think he was able to fight back?" Gilda asked.
    "His knuckles are bruised and cut up, probably from somebody's teeth."
    "So whoever attacked him might have a fat lip." Fabio took Gilda's arm and limped toward the school. "I think we should get in there before Mick breaks the news to everyone. I thought it would be best if he knew before we made a formal announcement to everyone, but now I'm not so sure."
    Thayer raised his eyebrows. "Good thinking. We don't want a stampede of people looking for the crime scene. There are already enough people coming over to see what's going on."
    Gilda's face burned. As usual, she was right in the middle of everything.
    Mick waited for them in the front lobby.
    They'd barely reached the front desk when Kane emerged from the dojoand frowned as if he had a premonition something was amiss. "Looks like I'm missing another party, mates. Is something going on out here I should know about?"
    "That depends." Fabio limped into the school and shot a glare at his partner. "How well did you know Charlie Hunt?"
    "What do you mean how well did I know him, mate?" Kane flinched, the expression on his face unreadable—by Gilda anyway. "What's happened to Charlie?"
    "What do you mean what's happened to Charlie?" Mena paused in the front entrance of the school. "What's going on? Why are there police all over the place?"
    Fabio narrowed his eyes and tensed. "Charlie Hunt is dead."
    "Charlie's dead?" Mena's eyes grew wide.
    "Dead?